Dominguez keeps a foot in the door

At the Dynamic Billard Leende Open 2018, Oscar Dominguez (USA) kept a foot in the door by winning his matches on day two after losing yesterday to Austria’s Maximilian Lechner.

Today, Oscar Dominguez had to enter the arena against Mika van Berkel (NED). Van Berkel is a 12-year-old boy who happened to meet one of the top US players in the event. Dominguez, sent to the loser’s round yesterday after a tough struggle against Maximilian Lechner with 8:9, can be considered an experienced and well known player who is attempting to make his way into the US team for this year’s Mosconi Cup. Today, he eliminated Ruben Frick (GER) 9:2 before he went up against van Berkel. The match went a bit as expected and in the end, Dominguez won the encounter clearly with 9:4. However, van Berkel’s enthusiasm and his braveness to compete against elite players cannot be regarded high enough. In future years, there will definitely be more to write about the young man. Today however, Dominguez was too much of an obstacle for him.

Other remarkable results include Corey Deuel (USA) defeating Wiktor Zielinski (POL) in winner’s round 2 with 9:4. Zielinski then went to the loser’s side where he fell to the sharp blade of his teammate Mieszko Fortunski (POL) with 5:9 which ended his journey here in Leende. Also in winner’s round 2, Ivar Saris (NED) steamrolled Jeremy Jones (USA) 9:3. Vitaly Patsura (UKR) edged over Wojciech Szewczyk (POL) by a whisker with 9:8 to make it to the winner’s qualification round. BCA Hall of Famer Ralf Souquet (GER) got the better of Jan van Lierop (NED) and won this match 9:6.

Former #1 Euro-Tour player Mark Gray (GBR) who had lost very surprisingly his opening with 6:9 yesterday to unheralded Mohammed-Hassan Baabad (KSA) is still in the race on the loser’s side. Today, Gray took down Abdurrahim Akdag (TUR) 9:5, then whitewashed Michael Wortmann (GER) 9:0 and finally overpowered Albert Casellas-Planas (ESP) 9:2. Gray will need two more victories in order to be among the last 32 players in the field.

Friday through Sunday, EPBF will show two feature matches LIVE on the EPBF Facebook page. The complete tournament is shown on kozoom.com for premium pass holders.

The Dynamic Billard Leende Open 2018 will continue tomorrow morning at 09:00 local time with matches from the winner’s qualification round.

The event is hosted by the European Governing Body for Pool, the European Pocket Billiard Federation (EPBF) and organised by International Billiard Promotion (IBP). For further information and reference please go to www.eurotouronline.com . You can also visit us on our Facebook page or check out the EPBF YouTube channel for regular news clips or contact our press office press@epbf.com.